46 Redblacks Took the Field Friday Night, You’ll Never Guess What Happened Next…

By: Santino Filoso

On a beautiful fall night for football in front of their 7th straight sell-out crowd, the Ottawa Redblacks snapped their 9-game losing streak in dramatic fashion. A strong running game and suffocating defence moved Ottawa’s record to 2-11 on the year, mathematically keeping them in the playoff race for another week.

– Henry Burris (#1) and the offence start out strong as Henry² (Marcus Henry #16) and Dobson Collins (#80) make back to back first down catches but after the zebras ignore a blatant face mask, Brett Maher’s (#3) 52 yard FG attempt is shanked and returned 114 yards for a TD

29% from beyond the 40, and they let him kick from 53. That's why the Redblacks have one win. Terrible.

– Henry² lets an easy catch bounce off his fingers into the arms of a Bomber defender who brings it back to Ottawa’s 46 yard line

– Jerrell Gavins (#24) knifes in and takes down Grigbsy in the backfield

– 6’3”, 235 pound defensive lineman Justin Capicciotti (#93) drops into coverage and makes an incredible open field tackle to prevent a touchdown, Bombers settle for a 9 yard field goal

– Jonathon Williams (#23) busts an 11 yard run to end the quarter

2nd Quarter:

– Ottawa’s offensive line fails to pick up the blitz and Burris is sacked for a 4 yard loss

– Following Maher’s punt, double fouls on the Bombers force them to start on their own 3 yard line

– Under heavy pressure, Willy just manages to get back to the line of scrimmage before being tackled by Zack Evans (#92)

– Feeling jealous as the spotlight shift away from him to Henry² who hauls in back to back catches, Williams literally makes something out of nothing on a 53 yard run into the end zone

– Sloppy special teams tackling on full display as Winnipeg takes the kick off 61 yards to start at Ottawa’s 43 yard line

– The Redblack’s lead disappears faster than your date when the bill arrives as the Bombers regain the lead by punching it in from the 1 following a Clarence Denmark 28 yard catch and run

– Burris gets nailed with a late hit and goes down hurt, Bombers get flagged for roughing the passer and Danny “Boy” O’Brien (#9) enters the game

– Williams continues to rip off strong runs, gaining 6 and 27 yards on consecutive plays before O’Brien caps off the drive with a 5 yard TD pass to Khalil Paden (#13), who knew both of his back ups would throw TDs at home before Burris?

– Showing no confidence that their special teamers can make a tackle, the Redblacks squib the kick off to avoid giving up a long return

-Capicciotti’s 2nd down sack is wiped out by an offside flag giving Winnipeg new life

– Ottawa gets their 3rd interception of the night courtesy of Thompson

– Multiple hand offs to Williams close out the game as the Redblacks run the clock and move the chains

All victory formations should have mandatory fireworks

Final score: Redblacks 42, Winnipeg, way less than that so who cares!

Key Stats:

Burris completed 24 of 31 passes (77%) for 284 yards with 1 INT

Williams ran the ball 21 times for 180 yards and 2 TDs

Miles hauled in 3 passes for 55 yards

Maher punted 3 times for 156 yards

Gavins made 8 tackles and 1 INT

Closing Thoughts:

Finally. R-Nation packed TD Place seven times waiting for a dominating win and they finally got it as the Redblacks beat up on the slumping Blue Bombers. Ottawa’s offence came alive at home as TD Place finally lived up to its name. Burris was incredibly sharp, completing pass after pass as his receivers ran crisp routes and hung onto the ball. The star of the game was Williams as he tore through Winnipeg’s defence piling up 229 total yards. The offensive line deserves major props for opening huge holes and keeping Burris upright. Many people in Ottawa had been calling for OC Mike Gibson’s head (myself included) but tonight’s 500 yards of total offence will go a long way towards appeasing the masses.

Aside from a few miscues, the defence was their typical stingy selves, generating three interceptions to go along with six sacks. Willy rarely had a clean pocket to throw from and heavy pressure led to a number of incompletions; the defensive line simply terrorized and imposed their will on the Bombers. Numerous players stood out but Gavins in particular had a whale of a game as he made a number of tackles to go along with his near pick six.

Maher had a decent night kicking though long his long range FG attempts continue to miss. Special teams tackling was incredibly poor and the Redblacks are lucky that the TD they gave up didn’t come back to haunt them.

All in all this was exactly what the Redblacks and their fans needed. Ottawa’s had some terrible luck throughout their 9 game losing streak and fans who did their part by continuing to back the team through their growing pains were rewarded with the Redblacks’ most impressive effort of the year. R-Nation gets a special shout out for making TD Place LOUD. The team feeds off the crowd’s energy and the fans were definitely a factor tonight. With the playoffs still a long shot, Ottawa will spend Thanksgiving weekend in BC to take on the Lions and hopefully build off their impressive win.

2 thoughts on “46 Redblacks Took the Field Friday Night, You’ll Never Guess What Happened Next…”

Great game, great win. The whole team played well and the O-line finally showed us that they are for real. Hank had a great game and it seemed to me at one point he was calling his plays, not sure though, but if he was keep it up.